Bar Bouchée To Open For Lunch Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Bar Bouchée Chef David Borselle, Jr. and Sous Chef Eric Hole had been working with Bar Bouchée Owner Jean Pierre Vuillermet for a couple of years at Vuillermet's New Haven restaurant, Union League Café, before Bar Bouchée opened in 2010. When they first opened Bar Bouché, they were intent on perfecting their dinner routine.

Some in town might argue it was perfect from the moment it opened, and the French bistro's reputation and popularity has grown since then.

Now, Bar Bouchée plans to open for lunch during the summer as well, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The eatery will then reopen at 4 p.m. for dinner, which it serves seven nights a week.

"Now is the right time"

"For two years, we've been saying, 'no lunch,'" Sous Chef Eric Hole said Tuesday afternoon, while perfecting some brioche dough in the basement level prep area for the kitchen. "And then we decided, now is the right time."

Hole said dinner hours will remain the same, from 4 p.m. to 10 six days a week and until about 9:30 p.m. on Sundays.

"Originally we hadn't planned for lunch, but we're in a position to do it right, Madison needs another great place for people to have lunch, and so we see that as a great opportunity," Hole said. Hole said that business at the Union League Cafe in New Haven traditionally drops off after Yale's graduation, and so that conntributed to Vuillermet's decision to add lunch in Madison in the summer months.

Salads, sandwiches, hamburgers and something that looks a lot like a hot dog

Bar Bouchée lunches will feature salads, sandwiches and various specials. Even hamburgers and hot dogs. But, as anyone who's ever eaten there will guess, these won't be just any old hamburgers and hot dogs.

The hamburger, a huge favorite with many in town, is a foie gras burger with mushrooms, tomato confit, seared foie gras and a balsamic glaze on a perfect broiche bun. And, well, while it's not really a hot dog, on some days the bistro will offer a special that looks a lot like one; a braised Lamb Merguez, which is a Morrocan spiced lamb sausage, that will also be served on a brioche and topped with a mint yogurt sauce.

Hole said the lunch menu will feature lighter fare as well, including  a coucous taboule with jumbo lump crabmeat and citrus sauce; salade nicoise; a butter lettuce and haricot vert salad with mustard vinagrette; P.E.I. mussels with "frites" or french fries; and a farm egg "cocotte" with paramacotto ham, creamy spinach and Grana Padano, which is a semi-aged hard Italian cheese that is Parmigiana-Reggiano's subtler cousin.

Farm fresh and locally sourced

When Hole says many of the ingredients are farm fresh, he means that literally. The restaurant patronizes Madison's farm market, Cole's Farm, Field House Farm, and Starlight Farms. "Small restaurants like ours can source that way, rather than always having to go to the big suppliers for everything," he said.

Hole says he is looking forward to providing lunch to Madison residents and visitors.

"Especially with our patio open, it seems like the perfect opportunity," he said.